


Fusenkago (The Flower Basket)

by butterflydreaming (chrysalisdreams)



Series: Fusenkago: Rearranging the Flowers [1]
Category: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-18
Updated: 2013-05-18
Packaged: 2017-12-12 06:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/808286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chrysalisdreams/pseuds/butterflydreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yue's and Ruby Moon's lives get mixed up together when Yue starts spending time in England. [Alt timeline/continuation]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fusenkago (The Flower Basket)

Chapter 1: **Yue**

"Hellooo I'm _home_!" sang Nakuru as she skipped through the doorway. She unburdened herself of half-a-dozen shopping bags, onto the parquet floor of the entry, and sashayed deeper into the house. There was a familiar resonance of moon magic coming from where Eriol was, out back in the rose garden. She always knew where Eriol was. And the familiar moon magic, she knew, wasn't Kaho; it was Yue. 

Yue was in England again. It was beginning to become a regular excursion; the Hiiragizawa house was starting to become a second home. It had started as a way for him to sort out his memories, and conflicting feelings, by talking to Hiiragizawa about Eriol's former incarnation in manner more personal than a phone call and lest constricting than a written letter. They rarely talked about Clow now. Instead, they were more likely to be as they now were, sitting in Eriol's garden, having a pint. Eriol, despite the re-starting of his aging, still looked underage for pub-going; Yue was still shy about eating again, except as Yukito, nor could he be seen in public in his True form. But they could drink together in Eriol's garden, enjoying a contemplative cameraderie. 

They both heard Akizuki's voice singing out her arrival moments before she appeared in the dappled sunlight. The effusive girl danced over to her master, her hug encompassing both him and the back of the patio chair. "What are you boys up to?" she asked with her usual overdosage of flirtation. She moved around to Yue and plopped herself into his lap before he could evade her by standing. "Did you bring me anything from Japan, _Oniiiiichan_?" she asked. 

"As a matter of fact, he did," offered Eriol, saving Yue from having to admit that he had thought about Nakuru at all. "It's up in your room." 

Nakuru squeeled and kicked her legs, jumping out of Yue's lap with gleeful anticipation. After grabbing his face with both hands and placing a sound kiss on Yue's cheek, she dashed back into the house to discover the nature of her souvenier. As she left, Eriol looked at Yue with a mischievous smile. "Nice to see you two getting along," he said. 

"Akizuki-san is…" Yue began with a subtle sigh, "a force of nature. I think my choices are limited." He looked in the direction that Nakuru had gone with an expression that could be mistaken for a blend of relief and fear. 

Eriol laughed. His voice dipped into a deeper and richer tone when he laughed than before: evidence of adolescence. Yue's eyes shifted to the dark-haired youth with a slight raising of his brows: the closest thing that the creature of magic had to a smile. Eriol lifted his glass to his own smile. It gave Yue a sense of undemanding ease; around Eriol, Yue could be Yue, with no role to fulfill. The young man had none of Mistress Sakura's continuing hesitancy around him - she still deferred to Yue, calling him "-san" - nor did he act as Sakura's brother did, treating him as a placeholder for Yukito. 

Yue raised glass of draft as well, tasting the natural bitterness of the red-amber liquid. He wondered why he was eating (or drinking, in this case). He had no need for it. Still, Yukito had such gusto for food, and his enthusiasm had carried over to Yue in some way. Eriol hadn't asked, only served his guest as he always did, and it had seemed wrong to reject the hospitality. 

They had a few minutes more of unspeaking company before another member of the household came to visit them. "Oh, so _this_ is the 'matter of great importance' that you were going to be busy with this afternoon, Eriol," said a cultured voice with the shading of a Japanese accent. Kaho stood on the garden path, still wearing a coat and carrying books and a briefcase. "Hello, Yue." She continued over to Eriol and touched his cheek in a discrete showing of affection. Equally discrete, he caressed the top of her hand as it lowered. "How was your flight?" she asked, directing her question to Yue even though her eyes lingered a moment longer on her beloved. 

"Long," answered Yue. "I slept through its entirety." Eriol laughed again. 

"Maybe I should ask Yukito, then," she countered sweetly. She turned back to Eriol. "I'll come back out after I put my things away. I have some pruning to do on the rose bushes." She exchanged smiles with Eriol and moved back up the path toward the house, disappearing into the shadowed interior. 

A shrill voice called down from an open upper-story window. "I love it!" yelled Nakuru, waving a sleeve wildly in the air. "Look, Eriol, it's a _yukata_!" 

"Well, come down and model it for us," the young man yelled back. 

Nakuru looked as though she was about to crawl out of the window, but then she seemed to change her mind. The rectangle of the window emptied as she went to join them through a more conventional route. Shortly after that, she was shuffling toward them as fast as she could while wearing the traditional geta sandals; Yue noted that even with the hobbling of the clothing, Nakuru was still fleet in her travel. 

She had attired her self completely in the theme, including putting up her wildly-colored hair with hairsticks, their ends adorned with carved jade beads that swayed as she hurried toward her audience. Her face was dusted with rice powder, her eyes and lips accented with color. She even carried a fan. "I'm the prettiest girl in London!" she proclaimed, beginning to dance with small steps, showing off her outfit and humming a happy tune. Neither Eriol nor Yue would ever admit to recognizing the song as "I Feel Pretty" from the musical _West Side Story_. 

"You _are_ very pretty," agreed Eriol. "Remember to say 'thank you', Ruby Moon." 

Nakuru stopped humming. "Of course!" she answered merrily. 

Yue's eyes widened with trepidation. He was a half-breath from bolting out of her reach, but changed his tactics instead by taking a significant drink from his glass and fixing the wild girl with a dangerously warning look. 

"Without pouncing," added Eriol in dry tones. 

Nakuru made a face; to anyone but her maker, she would have stuck out her tongue, too. "Spoil-sport," she pouted gregariously. 

"Truly, you should thank my Mistress and Miss Daidouji," explained Yue, now that the danger had passed, to re-inforce that he was not to be "glomped". 

Eriol surveyed Nakuru with deep consideration. "I should have recognized Daidouji-san's hand in the design," he mused. "She really has quite a talent." 

"I'll say," agreed Nakuru. "This fits like a dream." She looked up to see Kaho returning to the garden. Kaho was wearing a sunhat with a wide brim, and carrying shears and a large, wide basket. "Kaho," Nakuru said. "Look what Yue brought me." 

"It's beautiful," Kaho said, complimenting with a manner that was both sincere and disinterested. 

"Are you going to cut some roses?" asked Nakuru. "Can I have some for my room?" 

Kaho set her basket down in the dirt between a nearby row. "I have to dead-head and do some shaping. But if there are enough stems for a bouquet, then you can have some." Her shears began the high pitched chirp of cutting, and bits of rose bush fell into her basket. 

"I don't see why you can't just let them grow wild," Nakuru questioned. "They bloom either way." 

"They bloom better with cultivation," Kaho replied carefully. Her shears snipped to punctuate every few words. "The roses in this garden are older than all of us here," she looked up for a moment with an enigmatic smile. "Including you, Yue." 

"They're grown from cuttings," Eriol explained. "In that way, the original plant both reproduces and essentially remains immortal." 

"Ew," commented Nakuru, causing Eriol to smile wider. 

"How is Sakura-chan, Yue?" asked Kaho mildly. 

"She sends her greetings," answered Yue. "I think all is well with her." Eriol looked at Yue with curiousity. "I am not often needed," Yue explained. 

"Ah," said Eriol. 

Nakuru's head whipped from Yue to Eriol and back again. "What 'ah'?" she asked in a perturbed voice. "What do you mean? Don't tell me you spend most of your time as wimpy Tsukishiro!" Over the singing of her shears, Kaho _tsk_ ed. Eriol, however, restrained himself from reprimanding his creation. He wanted to see how Yue would answer. 

"There is little use for me," said Yue. "To be honest, I am not needed." 

"What do you have to be _needed_ for?" insisted Nakuru, annoyed. "All you _need_ to do is be yourself," she exclaimed. 

Yue frowned. "Ruby Moon, you have your false form to show to the world. My false form is Yukito. It is _his_ life that I lead." 

Nakuru tossed her head. "And what kind of life is that? What's the point of living his life? He doesn't even have the guts to tell Touya that he-" 

" _Ruby Moon_ ," said Eriol, censoring the girl sharply. She looked at him with exasperation, but obediently bit off her words. Yue looked slightly flushed, and Eriol knew that the cause was not the few ounces of alchohol he'd ingested. 

Nakuru tossed her head again. "I could show you how it's done," she said haughtily to Yue. She had tossed off the words without thinking, but hearing them aloud, she considered. "Why don't you stay with us," she said in a stage whisper, leaning forward with her hands on her hips. "Stay here. You said yourself that you aren't needed. So stay. You could just live here with us," suggested Nakuru happily. She stood upright again and placed her index finger on her dimpled cheek. "Right, Eriol? I mean, there's room and everything. Come on Yue, it would be fun!" 

Kaho paused in her pruning and observed with curiousity. Her glance flickered to Eriol, and she raised her eyebrows as a question. 

"I'll make the offer official," said Eriol. "If you'd rather not go back to Japan, you can stay here permanently. This house is always open to you, however you choose." 

Kaho walked over; she set her basket on the table. The distinctive perfume of roses spilled into the air, just the way the cut stems spilled informally in the wide basket. They were a riot of color and sizes - tea hybrids, wild roses, full blown blossoms and unopened buds - and they lay as they had fallen, their arrangement unplanned. "We would be happy to have you," said Kaho warmly. She began to straighten the stems, and the carefree bouquet began to lose its spontaneous beauty. "If you think that your place is with us, you would be welcome here." 

Yue looked at each one of them in turn. Nakuru sparkled with anticipation and excitement, Eriol was calmly smiling, and Kaho's look was contemplative. Yue hesitated to speak; he feared that his refusal would not be well-phrased. Eriol came to his rescue, again. 

"You don't have to make a formal decision," he said amiably. Akizuki cast him a look of put-out annoyance. 

"To speak truthfully," said Yue, aware of Nakuru's piercing gaze, "I would need to consider." 

"Want me to choose for you?" asked Nakuru brightly. Yue blinked, flinching back slightly. 

"Give it some thought," Eriol said. 


End file.
